OREANDA-NEWS. December 05, 2007. AB SAMPO bankas is offering a unique solution in the savings market of Lithuania. It is aimed at all residents wanting to conclude time deposit agreements, reported the press-centre of SAMPO bankas.

If in the future the deposit interest rate applied by SAMPO bankas grows, clients who now conclude time deposit agreements with 6- or 12-month maturity will be paid interest according to the interest rate applicable on the day the deposit reaches maturity rather than the interest rate specified in the agreement.

"Since goods and services are becoming more and more expensive, banks are also continuously increasing interest rates for deposits. For example, from the beginning of this year, the interest rate paid by SAMPO bankas for time deposits went up 60 percent. This means that each time clients conclude a deposit agreement they lose part of the interest they would have received for the same contract concluded a month or two later. Consequently, a great majority of residents are seriously considering the alternative of waiting for further growth in interest rates. From now on, it will be considerably easier for the clients of the bank to make up their minds; the interest rate that at the end of the term of the agreement exceeds the present interest rate will be applied to SAMPO depositors", Martynas Staskevicius, the project manager of the Product Management Department of SAMPO bankas, explained.

If the interest rate for deposits stops growing or even starts decreasing, those clients who opt for this proposal of SAMPO bankas will lose nothing; they will be paid interest according to the interest rate applicable at present, i.e. the interest indicated in the agreement.

"Clients will never receive less interest than established in the agreement, and they will always have the possibility to get more interest if the interest rate grows. Therefore, this new proposal of SAMPO bankas is aimed at everyone who wants to secure the maximum possible gains from interest rates", Mr Staskevicius emphasised.

The deposit proposal of SAMPO bankas is open to all private clients who from now on enter into time deposit agreements denominated in litas or euro for 6 or 12 months.

According to statistical data, the amount of deposits residents hold in banks continues growing irrespective of the annual rate of inflation, which has already exceeded the average interest rate of time deposits.

"If residents want to keep their savings for expenses in the near future-the next half a year or year-or reserve them for an emergency, a time deposit is actually one of the best solutions, because it is not advisable to invest in funds or other investment risk-related financial instruments. Even if inflation grows more than the interest rate of deposits, the money that is deposited will lose less value than money saved in a stocking", Mr Staskevicius said.

According to the data of the Association of Lithuanian Banks, by the end of the third quarter of this year, the time deposit portfolio of Lithuanian residents amounted to LTL 11,6 billion after a quarterly growth of 7 percent (LTL 0.74 billion) and an annual increase of 32 percent (LTL 2,79 billion).

The portfolio of individuals' deposits kept with AB SAMPO bankas at the end of October 2007 stood at LTL 728 million, exceeding the comparable figure of the previous year (LTL 456 million) 60 percent.